Even though Lewis Hamilton won, Mercedes' Niki Lauda has said that it's crazy that there was debris lying around on the Baku City Circuit, which eventually cost Valtteri Bottas the win.
On the straight, then race-leader Valtteri Bottas suddenly hit a big piece of debris, completely destroying his tyre. He was forced to park his Mercedes on the side of the track, and Bottas retired after he looked to be heading for a comfortable win. After a fantastic race, the Finn left Baku with a doughnut (zero points) instead of all 25. A bitter pill to swallow.
"Valtteri was driving a perfect race and could've easily won the race," Lauda told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
"It's absolutely crazy that the track wasn't cleaned properly.
"We should be happy that Lewis eventually won the race for us."
Secretly, Mercedes probably is happy that Hamilton won the race in terms of the championship standings, but that was as heartbreaking of a loss as you'll ever see from Bottas.
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